Winter weather advisory in effect for Midstate

Created 02/15/2010 - 2:51am

Staff reports

UPDATE: Middle Tennessee school administrators — already taking a day off for Presidents Day — may have gotten a break this morning from the headaches winter weather can cause those who must decide whether to cancel classes.

But drivers haven't gotten any breaks, especially commuters coming into Nashville from the east.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol has reported a stretch of Interstate 40 is shut down in Wilson County because of a crash on icy roads. The westbound lanes of the interstate are shut down from the Murfreesboro Road exit in Lebanon all the way to the Davidson County line.

And Metro Police have responded to dozens of calls of vehicles sliding off the roads Monday morning.

The National Weather Service predicted a 100 percent chance of “widespread snow” overnight Sunday as a frontal system pushed cold air into the area and changed a band of light rain to wet snow.

Snow started falling in middle Tennessee after midnight, sticking to the top of a layer of frozen rain. The weather has created extremely slick conditions.

A winter weather advisory remains in effect for all of Middle Tennessee until 6 p.m. Monday, and light snow showers which will taper off to flurries are predicted to continue through Tuesday.

Areas should expect from one-half inch along the Tennessee-Alabama border to 4 inches across the southern portions of the Cumberland Plateau, according the NWS. Nashville will likely only get 1 inch.

The low was expected to dip to 27 degrees Sunday night with west winds around 10 mph.

On Presidents Day, the NWS predicts a 60 percent chance of precipitation with a high near 32 degrees. New snow accumulation of less than 1 inch is possible. That snow chance falls to 20 percent Monday night with only flurries in the forecast Tuesday.